Nepalgunj. Only 33 candidates have opened bank accounts for the purpose of election expenditure in Banke.

According to the Election Code of Conduct Monitoring Committee, 15 out of 56 candidates contesting for the House of Representatives election in Banke district have not opened their bank accounts for the purpose of election expenses.

A total of 33 candidates including nine in Constituency No. 1, 14 in Constituency No. 2 and 10 in Constituency No. 3 opened their bank accounts, said Election Code of Conduct Monitoring Committee Officer Sarvodaya Upadhyay. According to him, 8 people have so far recommended to open accounts while 15 have not done anything yet.

Chief Fund Controller and Election Code of Conduct Monitoring Officer Upadhyay said that all the candidates should have opened their account accounts for the election expenses by February 17 but 15 candidates have not opened their accounts by February 17. “We have been reminded and promised, but it has not been implemented,” he said. According to Upadhyay, most of those who did not open their accounts are independent candidates.

As per the election code of conduct, the candidates should use a separate bank account for the election purpose without spending money from their personal account. Assistant Chief District Officer and monitoring officer Purna Bahadur Khatri said continuous monitoring was underway regarding the implementation of the provision. According to him, the report along with the name of the candidate, party, constituency and bank details will be sent to the Election Commission.

Out of three constituencies, 56 candidates are contesting in the election. The Election Commission has set the expenditure limit of Rs 3.1 million for constituency no 1 and Rs 2.9 million for constituency no 2 and 3. Meanwhile, discussions were held with the candidates at Kohalpur of constituency no. 1 today regarding the enforcement of the election code of conduct.

According to Code of Conduct Monitoring Committee Officer Purna Bahadur Khatri, the candidates have agreed to address the complaints of excessive use of T-shirt and cap in the constituency-1. “Overall it is better than other constituencies in the district, some problems have surfaced and they will be resolved,” he said.